BlueSky community celebrates 10th anniversary with symposium and workshop
To mark the 10th anniversary of the BlueSky community, Jacco Hoekstra, Professor of Communication, Navigation and Air Traffic Management, and Assistant Professor Joost Ellerbroek organised a workshop in Wassenaar on 8 and 9 November. In ten years, the network has grown from a local initiative to a global 'Wikipedia of air traffic simulations'. Hoekstra: "It's extraordinary how giving something away for free and without any conditions can give you back so much."
BlueSky: The Wikipedia of Air Traffic Simulation
BlueSky is a 100% open source, open data multi-platform Air Traffic Simulator. It has grown over the past decade from a local initiative at the Control & Simulation section to a global community bringing together researchers and developers of air traffic simulation, with users in the EU, US, China and Africa. Hoekstra: "The quality of simulation and data is so good that BlueSky is now seen as a competitor to existing commercial tools."
BlueSky in practice
Currently, there are more than 200 'forks' on the platform, more than 150 scientific publications refer to BlueSky and there are several spin-offs, such as OpenAP and PymodeS, also both 100% Open Source/Open Data. BlueSky is also at the heart of iLabs, the new innovation facility of Dutch air traffic controller LVNL. Students use BlueSky to create simulations and airspace designs on their laptops.
Jacco Hoekstra: ""It's extraordinary how giving something away for free and without any conditions can give you back so much. In the last SESAR calls, we were asked for three projects, for example by people who first found BlueSky and then came to us via BlueSky."
Symposium
To mark the 10th anniversary, Hoekstra, Ellerbroek and colleagues organised a symposium in Wassenaar on 8 and 9 November. Participants presented their projects, took part in a hackathon and workshop, and worked together to develop new software. Hoekstra looks back with satisfaction: "It is a new way to make research results from the whole sector, including others, transparent and comparable."
More information
More information about BlueSky and, of course, to join the BlueSky community can be found on GitHub or contact Prof. Jacco Hoekstra.